Starbucks Announces Price Hikes On Drinks & Packaged Coffee Products

Starting next week, you might notice that the price of a cup of joe at Starbucks is a little pricier, and shortly afterward, a bag of coffee at the grocery store might be a bit dearer. The Seattle company says that as the price of arabica beans goes up, so do certain prices for customers beginning June 24.

Blaming a drought in Brazil, the country with that soccer thing going on, Starbucks is hitching cafe prices by less than 1%, while ground and whole-bean coffees at retails stores will go up by about 8% on average, a company spokesman told Bloomberg.

Medium and large-sized brewed coffee will cost about $0.10 to $0.15 more in most U.S. cafes starting June 24, with small and large-sized lattes and mochas adding $0.15 to $0.20 in places. Food and iced-coffee frappuccino drinks are safe.

Then on July 21, the suggested retail price for a 12-ounce bag of Starbucks branded coffee will go to $9.99 from $8.99. Staying the same price: Keurig K-Cup, Via instant coffee and Seattle’s Best coffee.

“We consider many different factors when we make pricing decisions including competitive dynamics and including changes to our overall cost structure,” the spokesman said, telling Businessweek that the price increases have nothing to do with the company’s recent education initiative.

He adds that “this pricing adjustment is in no way related to the education announcement we made earlier this week.”